The 10 piece strong 'little big band' Positive Catastrophe was founded in 2007 by cornetist/composer Taylor Ho Bynum and percussionist/vocalist/composer Abraham Gomez-Delgado. Uniquely fusing Latin and avant-garde jazz, the group enlists many of New York’s most adventurous jazz and salsa musicians:

"Time was when the wide range of sources heard in the music of Positive Catastrophe had to fight for a place in jazz. Ethnic music (some of it in odd meters), rock and funk, literary art songs, and other influences from outside the jazz tradition have all elbowed their way into the music over the past few decades. It is the musical vocabulary that the young members of this 10-piece band co-led by brass player Taylor Ho Bynum and percussionist Abraham Gomez-Delgado grew up speaking. Do the noisy rock sonorities of Pete Fitzpatrick’s electric guitar on “Deebroojo Two” belong in jazz? Of course! Settings of passages from novels by Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad? What’s the big deal? Composers Bynum and Gomez-Delgado so easily mold their eclectic range of resources in a single voice and the band interprets the charts with such exuberance and grace that you hardly notice the music is actually quite rigorous and challenging.... There’s a lot happening, but Positive Catastrophe makes it sound as natural as Basie playing 'April in Paris.'" – Point of Departure

"Combining the raw passion of Afro-Cuban rhythm with the intellectual intensity of free jazz, Positive Catastrophe transcends idiom.... With its exciting mélange of ingredi- ents, this genre-defying album contains sufficient amounts of improvisational rigor and enchanting harmonies to satisfy both adventurous and more-conventional listeners." – Jazziz

"This group combined the Latin and avant-garde traditions in unheard ways, sinking its teeth into everything from Arkestra pandemonium to deep Afro-Cuban grooves to long-form composition. This music was full of roof-raising pleasures but also artful decision-making." – JazzTimes

Dibrujo, Dibrujo, Dibrujo... is Positive Catastrophe's second album. Here, the group combines salsa-derived groove with the intensity of modern jazz for a mix that is both artistic (dibujo = drawing) and magical (brujo = sorcerer). It features new music by both Bynum and Gomez-Delgado, including an extended suite by each.

Throughout the recording, all of the performers in the ensemble receive ample room to feature their musical voices and there are exciting scored passages that roll into rollicking solos; this is new music that knows how to swing and shake!

"...a raucous 10-piece ensemble which nails its distinctive blend of Afro-Cuban rhythm and freewheeling improvisation." – The New York Times

Positive Catastrophe is the brainchild of Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet) and Abraham Gomez-Delgado (percussion). Taylor is one of the most impressive of the latest crop of up and coming jazz musicians and Aib has long been expanding the boundaries of Latin-based music and jazz. Together they have come up with Positive Catastrophe: a trans-idiomatic ten-piece little big band that successfully connects the dots between Sun Ra and Eddie Palmieri and beyond! The group enlists a bevy of New York’s most adventurous jazz and salsa musicians, all of whom are composers and leaders in their own right. The full line up is: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn, co-leader), Abraham Gomez-Delgado (vocals, percussion, co-leader), Jen Shyu (vocals, erhu), Matt Bauder (tenor sax, clarinets), Michael Attias (baritone sax), Mark Taylor (french horn), Reut Regev (trombone), Pete Fitzpatrick (guitar), Alvaro Benavides (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums). With the exceptional musicianship of all of these players and their fluidity in multiple genres, a unique instrumentation that hints at a traditional jazz and salsa big bands yet includes french horn, erhu, and rock guitar, and a pair of dramatic vocalists that are comfortable singing in three languages, Positive Catastrophe creates a truly boundary-crossing kind of new music.

"If you’ve been hungering to hear Latin-based jazz in a new light, your prayers have been answered." – NY Press

"The ten-piece Positive Catastrophe pools the resources of two outstanding bandleaders: the ever-searching avant-jazz cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, and Abraham Gomez-Delgado, head of the eclectic alterna-Latino outfit Zemog El Gallo Bueno…full of swagger and groove, it combines Mingus-esque polyphonic momentum with vibrantly off-kilter world-funk.” – Time Out New York

For press and media: cover art and high resolution images are available below for download (click thumbnail, right-click image and select "Save As.."). Please credit the photographer (when available) and "Courtesy of Cuneiform Records". For more information, click here.